As the title says, my car is pulling to the right and I cannot figure out why and wondering what next step to take…
Some general info on the situation: when I bought the car it was bone stock and drove straight. It needed tires so I bought four new tires (General Gmax rs) and at the same time I replaced the base sway bars with Z51 bars and also replaced the sway bar end links with Moog end links. After that the car started pulling to the right. Since then I’ve had multiple alignments done at different shops, all telling me the alignment is dead on. (Factory specs) Today I swapped sides on the front tires to see if that made a difference and it didn’t, still pulls right. What do I do next? None of the suspension and steering parts are worn that I can tell. I thought about getting new outer tie rod ends anyway so should I try that and maybe loose then sway bar and end links to try adjusting them? It’s driving me crazy. The pull isn’t awful but it’s definitely enough to be aggravating and severe enough to where something has to be off pretty good. Any info would be appreciated

 

When putting the wheels back on the correct sides I found the passenger side lower shock mount bolt is missing!! Hopefully this is what is causing the pulling to the right!

 

How many miles on the car and the tires ?
Roads have a crown in the center for water runoff, so does it pull to the right when in all lanes ?
I am getting an alignment because my GS has a very slight pull to the right when in right lane of interstate but drives straight when in left lane.
Several yrs ago, my Dad had a Chev pickup that would pull to the left and it was the flexible brake line on front left. Somehow the brake line would allow brake line pressure to the caliper but then would retain some line pressure on the caliper. We put 2 new calipers on it before we changed the flexible brake line and solved the problem.

 

That should doesn’t look like it would cause the problem you describe. I severely mis-adjusted sway bar could cause issues, you could disconnect one side and see if anything happens. Was any ride height or spring adjustments made?

also I’m assuming you really mean it’s pulling, not that the wheel is just off center?

 

currently 50k miles on the car, prob 5k miles or less on the tires but the car has been pulling since the tires were brand new. I considered a sticking caliper but both front wheels spin exactly the same with the front lifted, even after pressing on the brake pedal so I wouldn’t think it could be a sticking caliper. Also, it’s def not just the crown of the road. It does it in both lanes and it’s most definitely different then before the new tires and sway bars.

Well when I first saw the missing bolt I felt relieved cause I figured that was my problem but the more I think about it I feel like that probably wasn’t the source. I haven’t driven the car since I put a new bolt in, haven’t really had a chance. Nothing else was changed, still at stock ride height and never touched anything except new sway bars and new sway bar end links. It’s possible that either the front or rear sway bar isn’t centered perfectly but it can’t be off much at all. Btw, how exactly do you know where at on the sway bar to mount to the clamps?!
But yes I mean pulling as in the car “wanders” to the right. If you are in the passing lane and let go of the wheel long enough you will be in the right lane fairly quickly.
If putting the bolt back in doesn’t help then I’m going to loosen both front and rear sway bars and end links and try adjusting some. Swapping the front tires changed nothing, maybe I should have swapped the rear tires also.

 

You said it was not pulling until you changed tires, sway bars, and end links. My guess is it is one of those 3 things causing the pull. Also the alignment is another variable.

 

It’s possible it started before all of that but I don’t think so. As I mentioned, I had three different alignments done at three different shops with no change so I highly doubt it’s an alignment issue… the last shop was a guy who has had a ton of experience on corvette alignments.
I agree tho it must be one of those three things but I’m at a loss because I’m confident I installed the sway bars and end links correctly and as far as the tires I swapped sides with no change so that led me here. If fixing the shock mount doesn’t help it I’m taking the sways bars off and re-installing them. I might try putting them on with the suspension loaded, even tho I don’t believe it matters.

 

Post the alignment specs.

 

Dont have them anymore. I’m pretty sure he went with factory specs tho

 

It's likely the missing bolt. Alignment would look perfect when on a rack under static, not moving conditions. On the road, in motion and suspension working, that missing bolt will definitely cause the issue. And it's on the same side that the car is pulling.

After replacing the bolt, you may need to have the alignment checked to make sure it is still good. If aligned with the bolt missing, once the bolt is replaced it may throw it out of alignment. And you want to be sure just in case you find there still is an issue with it pulling.

 

I hope you’re right, and considering it’s on the same side that it’s pulling to then it very well may be the cause. Actually whenever I would be coming to a stop or just driving slow and hit a bump or uneven section of road the steering wheel would immediately turn to the right a bit. So I would imagine that driving down the road even on a smooth surface it was probably trying to do the same thing to some degree. I’ll find out tomorrow, I’m driving to the corvette expo in TN and will have plenty of flat straight road to test it.
As far as another alignment I plan on getting some Bilstein shocks pretty soon so I’ll prob just wait until I put them on to get the new alignment.
I’m trying to decide between the B6 and B8 shocks. I’ll probably go with the B6 because my car isn’t lowered and I don’t plan on changing out the springs. I figured the B8’s might be a bit too stiff to pair with the non-Z51 springs I have.

 

I did the B8's a couple of years ago as I have a Grand Sport. Honestly, I cannot tell a difference in ride quality and comfort. It was pretty much the same. But the handling and cornering was much improved.

I don't think you can go wrong with either the B6 or B8's.

 

Id say there’s not much of a difference between the Bilsteins and the stock GS shocks… The suspension on the non-Z51 base is quite disappointing. The Z51 sway bars made and difference and the new shocks I would imagine will make a pretty big difference also.
I’ll follow up on this post this weekend and let you guys know how it drives.

 

Well I have driven the car quite a bit today and unfortunately the missing bolt wasn’t the problem. The car drives and handles a little better now but is still wandering right. It’s not off by much but def enough to be noticeable. When I hold the wheel completely straight the car drives straight but when not holding the wheel it wants to turn to the right just a hair, enough to cause the car to change course. Hard to explain it but something is causing the wheel to not hold a straight position when it should be. So now I’m back to the drawing board. Get some Bilsteins, new outer tie rods and another alignment and go from there?

 

You could also check the ride height as well. Maybe your ride height bolts need adjustment. I would think this could have an effect.

 

I'm curious as to why you say that. Do you track the car?

Tom

 

Yeah I will check that, they shouldn’t have been touched but you never know. Here’s a quick video I made today, about a second or two into the video is when I let go of the wheel.

 

Factory specs have a pretty wide range of what's acceptable. End up on the fringes in each direction and you can be "in spec" but still have an issue.

Generally this is going to be...
- Bad tie rod(s) (inner and/or outer)
- Caster is off
- Camber is mismatched side-to-side (ie one side is -1* and the other is -2* sort of thing).

There's a very slight chance the steering rack is moving because it's not secured. If you were missing a shock bolt, what else might be MIA or loose?!

The other alignment issue could be toe....if the tech only looked at total toe and not individual toe settings plus total toe, your wheels could in fact be pointing to the right. You could do a simple experiment and add "toe out" to the left wheel and "toe in" to the right wheel. Do the same number of turns on each side so that Total Toe stays the same. If the car drives straight (albeit with the steering wheel now naturally indicating the car is going left), it's telling you that you have an alignment issue. It wouldn't surprise me if a half or three quarters of a turn gets the car driving pretty straight. Of course then you still have to check the overall alignment again and understand why that worked.

Was the car ever in an accident?

 

I think I’m going to replace the inner and outer tie rods no matter what, I have 50k miles on the stock ones and it wouldn’t hurt.
Its funny you mention what else could be loose or missing because the same shop that I believe is responsible for the missing shock bolt did actually leave one of the steering rack bolts completely off when they gave me my car back from replacing the balancer. I’m not sure how somebody misses something that important but luckily I caught it and took it back. I have personally went over everything else and nothing seems to be missing or loose.
So to do the toe in/out experiment I would just adjust the tie rods a bit, take the driver side out maybe a quarter turn and take the passenger side in a quarter turn, correct?
I think I’m gonna get new tie rods inner and outer, new shocks and then an another alignment at a local Chevy dealership.
The car has never been in an accident and drove straight as an arrow when I bought it. Sometime, between having the car at and shop to get the balancer replaced and then putting new tires and sway bars on, is when it started doing this.

 

Correct. Quick and easy to do.